Texas Olive Oil & Meyer Lemon Ice Cream

I recently attended Texas Olive Harvest at Central Market, a cooking demonstration highlighting olive oils from the Texas Olive Ranch, the only olive oil producer in Texas that puts out 100% Texas-grown olive oil. We’ve been using their olive oil for a couple of months and love it.

Texas has thrown its hat into the olive oil ring with an estimated 500 tons of olives to be harvested this year! Leading the demo was Lou Lambert, Chef-Owner of Jo’s and Lambert’s Downtown Barbecue and Rebecca Rather, Chef-Owner of Rather Sweet Bakery in Fredericksburg. Their olive oil themed menu included:

Putting olive oil in ice cream is a pretty unusual use (to me, anyway). But it ended up being my favorite dish of the night. A smooth, rich ice cream laced with the fruitiness of olive oil. It was paired with a Glazed Citrus Cookie that packed a citrusy punch to balance the richness of the ice cream.

At home, I chose to pair citrus and olive oil together in the ice cream using magical Meyer lemons. Served with a slice of citrusy angel food cake and fresh strawberry sauce, it was a fabulously bright and decadent dessert!

Ingredients

Instructions

Heat milk, cream, and lemon zest over medium heat until hot and bubbles form around the edge.

With a mixer, whisk egg yolks, sugar, and salt on high speed for 5 minutes until thickened and pale yellow. Reduce speed and drizzle in lemon juice and olive oil.

Slowly stream in the hot cream mixture until the side of the mixer bowl is warm.

Turn off the mixer and transfer the egg mixture back into the pan. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon or rubber spatula (if you're following along with a thermometer, the magic happens between 160-170F).

Pour through a strainer into a medium bowl. Refrigerate until very cold.

Transfer to ice cream maker and freeze according to your model's directions.

Notes

I need an ice cream maker and that kitchen counter is similar to what mine would look like if I kept all of the kitchen aids I’ve been through since i’ve been married (3- I’ve burned through 3 kitchen aid motors. They just can’t handle ll the bread dough I knead).

There’s a food truck in NYC that sells olive oil ice cream and, though I haven’t hit it up yet, I’ve been meaning to…it’s supposed to be amazing! Or I could just make this…which would also make me incredibly happy. If only meyers were still around. If. Only.

If you have any farmer markets nearby, you might check there, too. They have booths at a different FM every day of the week in the Houston metro area. I’ve found that it’s cheaper by a few dollars there than in store. (We go to Saturday Harvest at Georgia’s Farm to Market on Saturday afternoons.)

I finally bought myself a dwarf meyer lemon tree this year and expect a great harvest by the number of all the blossoms! I love cooking with olive oil, and do add it often to muffins, etc. but have never made ice cream with it. Sounds heavenly!

What kind of oil would you recommend if I don’t have access to Texas olive oil? Would a Greek extra virgin olive oil work? Do I need to infuse it with some meyer lemon zest? I’d like to make this ice cream for a Chinese New Year dessert. Would this go well with pie? It looks creamy. Also, when you froze it afterwards, did it freeze hard as a rock or stay more like store ice cream? I wondered if I’d need to add a little vodka to soften it or if it would stay scoopable?

I was pretty excited to see Meyer Lemons for sale in Upstate NY, to score a “Half Pint” mini ice cream maker on clearance and to find your recipe all in the same week. I used local cream and eggs and Sicilian olive oil and am happy to report that this ice cream is dreamy! It’s refreshing, silky, super simple to make and will definitely impress friends. Thanks for sharing!